Goals:
To investigate in detail the timecourse of cortical and subcortical cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes during seizures in humans. Understanding the anatomical brain regions involved and the timecourse of their involvement during bilateral and unilateral ECT-induced seizures may help elucidate the fundamental mechanisms for the therapeutic and adverse effects of ECT. These results may also have applications to understanding spontaneous epileptic seizures in humans.

Methods:Seizures are induced with unilateral and bilateral electroconvulsive therapy stimulation protocols. CBF is measured using single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) ictal-interictal difference imaging, and compared to SPECT measurements performed during spontaneous seizures in patients with epilepsy. SPECT scans are coregistered with MRI scans for anatomic localization, and are analyzed using statistical parametric mapping (SPM 99).